Glacier Quick Facts - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBA glacier is an accumulation of ice and snow that slowly flows over land. Alpine glaciers are frozen rivers of ice, slowly flowing under their own weight down mountainsides and into valleys. Ice sheets exist only on Greenland and Antarctica, and they spread out in broad domes in multiple directions. A group of people explore the Perito Moreno ...
Homepage | National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBNASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center (NSIDC DAAC) Open access cryosphere and related geophysical data from NASA Earth-observing satellite missions, airborne campaigns, and field observations. Explore NASA data at NSIDC.
Arctic Weather and Climate | National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBNear the ocean, a maritime climate prevails. In coastal Alaska, along with Iceland and Scandinavia, the winters are stormy and wet, with snow and rainfall reaching 60 centimeters (24 inches) to 125 centimeters (49 inches) each year. Summers in the coastal regions tend to be cool and cloudy; average temperatures hover around 10 °C (50 °F).
Snow Today - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBJun 5, 2024 · Snow Today is a NASA-funded research project that examines where snow is present, where it has snowed recently, and how much water is in the snow, while also comparing between snow today, snow yesterday, snow last year, and snow over the last few decades. You can find the following resources on …
Sea Ice Today - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBSep 3, 2024 · Sea ice data is updated daily, with a one-day lag. On occasion, there is data delay which is usually resolved within a few days. The orange line in extent and concentration images (left and middle) and the gray line in the time series (right) indicate 1981 to 2010 average extent for the day shown.
Arctic Weather and Climate - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBArctic temperatures are higher in summer, when there is more sunlight, and lower in winter, when the region is dark. Scientists also use temperature for monitoring changes in climate. Long-term measurements of air temperatures over many years are important for scientists to track climate change.
Ice Sheet Quick Facts - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBIce sheets are much larger than glaciers. An ice sheet is a mass of glacial land ice, extending more than 50,000 square kilometers (20,000 square miles). Ice sheets can cover underlying canyons and mountain ranges. During the last ice age, ice sheets also covered much of North America and Scandinavia. Now, Earth has two ice sheets: one covers ...
Science of Glaciers - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBGlaciers move by internal deformation of the ice, and by sliding over the rocks and sediments at the base. The weight of overlying snow, firn, and ice, and the pressure exerted by upstream and downstream ice deforms glacier ice, in a phenomenon known as creep. A glacier may slide on a thin layer of water at its base.
Quick Facts About Snow - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBSnow acts like a scrubbing brush as it falls through the atmosphere. So, the longer the snow falls, the cleaner the air, and also the snow. That being said, never eat plowed snow, which contains snow, dirt, and chemicals like magnesium chloride. Also, it takes a lot of energy for the body to melt the snow into water, actually dehydrating a person.
Why Glaciers Matter - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBWhy they matter. Glaciers, slow-moving rivers of ice, have sculpted mountains and carved valleys throughout Earth's history. They continue to flow and shape the landscape in many places today. But glaciers affect much more than the landscape. Glacier melt delivers nutrients into lakes, rivers, and oceans. Those nutrients can drive blooms of ...